Open main menu
Home
Random
Recent changes
Special pages
Community portal
Preferences
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Incubator escapee wiki
Search
User menu
Talk
Dark mode
Contributions
Create account
Log in
Editing
Telethon
(section)
Warning:
You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you
log in
or
create an account
, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
Anti-spam check. Do
not
fill this in!
====United States==== In the United States, telethons are held for various [[charitable organization]]s; as of 2014, however, no national telethons currently exist.<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0899764012467230 |title=National Giving Campaigns in the United States |date=December 14, 2012 |doi=10.1177/0899764012467230 |last1=Einolf |first1=Christopher J. |last2=Philbrick |first2=Deborah M. |last3=Slay |first3=Kelly |journal=Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly |volume=42 |issue=2 |pages=241–261 |s2cid=153796143 |access-date=September 30, 2020 |archive-date=October 19, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211019164431/https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0899764012467230 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref> The longest-running national telethon in the United States was ''[[The Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon]]'', which was staged for over 21 hours each [[Labor Day]] to benefit the [[Muscular Dystrophy Association]] between 1966 and 2010.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.mda.org/about-mda/history |title=History of MDA |date=2015-12-29 |access-date=2020-09-30 |archive-date=2020-09-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200921073951/https://www.mda.org/about-mda/history |url-status=live }}</ref> From 2011 to 2013 it was trimmed down to six hours, then to three, and then to two hours. From 2012 it no longer served as a telethon in the traditional sense. It was discontinued in 2014.<ref name=USAToday050115>{{cite news |newspaper=USAtoday |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/people/2015/05/01/muscular-dystrophy-association-ends-labor-day-television-telethon/26709717 |title=MDA ends Jerry Lewis Labor Day telethon |access-date=7 May 2018 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170831163431/https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/people/2015/05/01/muscular-dystrophy-association-ends-labor-day-television-telethon/26709717 |archive-date=31 August 2017}}</ref> Other prior charities such as the [[St. Jude Children's Research Hospital]], [[Easterseals (U.S.)|Easter Seals]], [[Arthritis Foundation]], and the [[Children's Miracle Network]] had produced telethons on a nationwide or regional basis. Some radio stations produce annual [[pledge drive]]s which are similar in format to telethons, but instead, use brief breaks between regular programs to appeal for funds. [[Trinity Broadcasting Network]] (TBN), a [[religious broadcasting|religious]] [[television network]], hosts non-stop, week-long, semi-annual telethons called "Praise-a-Thons". The [[Christian Broadcasting Network]] (CBN; producers of the long-running [[broadcast syndication|syndicated]] program ''[[The 700 Club]]'') stages a modified form of a telethon thrice yearly, which runs for approximately one week but is shown for only an hour or so each day. In its early days, CBN's telethons were of the more traditional round-the-clock form; this format ended when the [[Pat Robertson]]-founded ministry sold [[Television networks preceding ABC Family#The Family Channel|The Family Channel]] (now [[Freeform (TV channel)|Freeform]]), which no longer gave it access to a round-the-clock outlet for such telethons. However, on the Sunday before the [[Super Bowl]], CBN continues to produce a 12-hour telethon which airs on Freeform and is syndicated to various television stations; the broadcast of the program on the cable channel was a condition inserted in a 1998 deal by International Family Entertainment (which acquired the channel from CBN in 1990) to sell The Family Channel to [[News Corporation (1980–2013)|News Corporation]], and remained in place after the channel's 2001 sale to The Walt Disney Company. Other religious stations and networks hold telethons as well, including [[Chabad|West Coast Chabad Lubavitch]] since 1980.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://tolife.com|title=Chabad Telethon|website=tolife.com|access-date=7 May 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171029144550/http://tolife.com/|archive-date=29 October 2017}}</ref> For a brief time in the early 1970s, beginning in 1972, the [[United States Democratic Party|Democratic Party]] even held annual telethons (two were called "America Goes Public" and "Answer, America!"<ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1356&dat=19740628&id=HnhPAAAAIBAJ&pg=4589,6754761|title=Ocala Star-Banner - Google News Archive Search |website=news.google.com |access-date=7 May 2018}}</ref>) to help it erase a multi-million [[dollar]] [[debt]] (this may have provided the inspiration for the 1979 comedy film ''[[Americathon]]'', where a telethon is held to prevent [[national bankruptcy]]). The telethon idea was created and promoted by [[John Y. Brown, Jr.]], the businessman who built [[Kentucky Fried Chicken]] into a worldwide chain and later became [[Governor of Kentucky]]. Local telethons, once a common fixture in nearly every major city in the United States, are now rare but still found in a handful of cities, including Louisville, Kentucky (WHAS Crusade for Children), [[Buffalo, New York]] (the ''Variety Club Telethon'', held each winter for [[Variety, the Children's Charity]]; it began on what is now [[WGRZ]] in 1962 before spending most of its run on [[WKBW-TV]] from 1963 to 2019 and then moving back to WGRZ in 2020, with [[WBBZ-TV]] added as a broadcast partner that year); Green Bay, Wisconsin ([[WBAY-TV]]'s annual March telethon for the locally based [[Cerebral palsy|Cerebral Palsy]] Center); and [[Erie, Pennsylvania]] (the ''Community for Kanzius Telethon'' on [[WICU-TV|WICU]] and [[WSEE-TV|WSEE]] for the Kanzius Cancer Research Foundation). [[New York City]] also features a telethon of sorts; the ''[[WFAN (AM)|WFAN]] Radiothon'', by virtue of its two [[drive time]] shows being simulcast on [[cable television]], has portions covered on television. Since 2010, this has included the portion covering ''[[Boomer and Carton in the Morning]]'' on [[CBS Sports Network]] and ''[[Mike's On]]'' on [[Fox Sports 1]]/[[Fox Sports 2|2]]. From 2002 to 2007, the shows in question were ''[[Imus in the Morning]]'' on [[MSNBC]] and ''[[Mike and the Mad Dog]]'' on YES; Imus revived the practice of hosting radiothons on his most recent radio broadcast homes, [[WABC (AM)|WABC]] and [[Fox Business Network]]. [[Garden City High School (Kansas)|Garden City High School]] in [[Garden City, Kansas]], holds annual telethons to help fund the school's broadcasting, debate and forensics teams.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gctelegram.com/communityguide/media/Guide-2009---Television-stations|title=Television stations|website=gctelegram.com|access-date=7 May 2018|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101231235251/http://www.gctelegram.com/communityguide/media/Guide-2009---Television-stations|archive-date=31 December 2010}}</ref> On December 14, 2012, [[Univision]] introduced the first ever Spanish-language telethon in the United States, ''[[Teletón USA]]'', which is hosted by longtime ''[[Sábado Gigante]]'' host Mario Kreutzberger, known by his stage name [[Don Francisco (television host)|Don Francisco]]. The total donation in the first edition was $8,150,625, 16.44% more than the intended goal of $7,000,000.<ref>{{cite web|title=El gran total del Teletón USA 2012.|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hv_vQbN307g|publisher=[[Univisión]]|date=December 16, 2012|access-date=2013-03-06|language=es|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140523221818/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hv_vQbN307g|archive-date=May 23, 2014}}</ref> For its 2013 edition, the goal went up to $15,215,029 and the total donation is now $15,313,525, a $98,496 increase.<ref>{{cite web|title=La cifra final del Teletón USA 2013.|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wu1j7xkKzxE |publisher=[[Univisión]]|date=December 15, 2013|access-date=2013-12-15|language=es|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150710183046/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wu1j7xkKzxE|archive-date=July 10, 2015}}</ref>
Edit summary
(Briefly describe your changes)
By publishing changes, you agree to the
Terms of Use
, and you irrevocably agree to release your contribution under the
CC BY-SA 4.0 License
and the
GFDL
. You agree that a hyperlink or URL is sufficient attribution under the Creative Commons license.
Cancel
Editing help
(opens in new window)